nytimes.com – Shreeya Sinha – Jun 4 – In 2013, a police crackdown using tear gas and water cannons on peaceful protesters challenging plans to replace Istanbul’s Gezi Park in Taksim Square with a replica Ottoman-era army barracks that would house a shopping mall, became a catalyst for…

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoğlu has denied that his first election campaign as AKP leader and premier has been overshadowed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strong presence. “We lead our own campaign,” he said.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan fears he may have misread electorate’s mood as polls show strong support for opposition parties

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long-running feud with Turkey’s feisty opposition media has descended into open warfare ahead of Sunday’s general election, amid claims that his ruling neo-Islamist Justice and Development party (AKP) is plotting to fix the results and shrill threats to lock up journalists and editors en masse.

“It’s unprecedented, I have two opponents in front of me – the president and the prime minister,” Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, told AFP, challenging Erdoğan to “take up again the leadership of the AKP and lead the campaign.”

The leaders of the three primary opposition parties currently represented in parliament received their daily dose of opprobrium from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on June 4 as the putatively impartial head of state conducted his latest pre-election “meeting with the people” in Sivas

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) should not be underrated and has survived many challenges on the path to the June 7 general election with limited resources, MHP head Devlet Bahçeli said on June 4.